opinion
Battalion/Page 2
August 5,1982
VIEWPOINT Hiding wine from the heathen
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Reader explains
Palestinian group
Editor:
The Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion is a democratically elected, progres
sive organization which governs the poli
tical, economic and social affairs of the
Palestinian people. It is designated by the
Reader’s
Forum
Palestinian people to realize their nation
al rights to return to their own country
and to exercise their right to self determi
nation.
The first national Congress, attended
by representatives of the Palestinians,
met in Jerusalem in May 1964 and
elected an executive committee. This
committee oversees different depart
ments of the PLO that deal with health,
welfare, education, arts and culture, di
plomacy and other affairs. The 13th
Palestine National Congress met in
March 1977 in Cairo, Egypt and and re
elected chairman Yassir Arafat and an
executive committee of 14 members.
The Palestinian people send elected
representatives to the National Congress
from their different organizations.
These include professional associations,
such as teachers, doctors and lawyers;
popular organizations: student unions,
women’s unions, writers and journalists
unions; trade and labor organizations;
students unions; trade and labor organi
zations; political parties and movements.
The Palestine National Congress in
cludes representatives from the occupied
territories (West Bank and Gaza). They
are members of the Palestinian National
Front, the organization that has led the
struggle against Israeli occupation.
Moreover, a number of Palestinian lead
ers whom Israel expelled from the West
Bank and Gaza, are representatives in
the Congress and Executive Committee.
Israeli Arabs also have representatives in
the National Congress. The PLO budget
comes directly from Palestinians who pay
an income tax which goes directly to the
PLO national fund. Income from this
source represents 80 percent of the PLO
budget. The rest comes as aid directly
from friendly countries and Arab popu
lar contributions.
The PLO has a vast program for social,
economic, educational and human wel
fare for the Palestinians. In the last
twelve years, it has built 50 hospitals and
120 medical clinics, which provide free
medical treatment. It has built hundreds
of schools and established special prog
rams for the education of children. It
established rehabilitation centers and
vocational training centers. The Pales
tine Red Crescent (similar to the Red
Cross) has been established to oversee the
medical programs. The PLO has also
established research centers and encour
aged the revival of Palestinian arts, film
making and literature.
The PLO economic institution,
SAMED, employs more than 5,000 men
and women in factories run by elected
workers’ councils. The workers them
selves make all major decisions including
their rate of pay. The majority of these
workers are the families of martyrs.
The Palestine Liberation Organization
has a progressive ideology. It calls for the
establishment of a secular, democratic,
progressive state in Palestine where Jews,
Christians and Moslems will co-exist with
full and equal rights. In his 1974 speech
to the United Nations, Yassir Arafat said:
“We do distinguish between Judaism and
Zionism. While we maintain our opposi
tion to the Colonialist Zionist movement,
we respect the Jewish faith. We deplore
all the real discrimination suffered by
them because of their faith.”
The PLO has been officially recog
nized by over 120 countries as the sole
legitimate representative of the Palesti
nian people.
Wahid Slieman
President
General Union of Palestinian Students
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City Editor BernieFette
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Editor’s note: Art Buchwald is recycling
some of his best columns whilst he and his
family soak up the sun and enjoy the soft
sea breeze of the Falkland Islands, other
wise known as “Maggie’s Vineyard.”
by Art Buchwald
Not all the revelations in the Woodward
and Bernstein version of Nixon’s last 100
days are unsympathetic to him. For ex
ample, one thing that struck me was an
item that the former President was a wine
buff and preferred a very expensive
Chateau Margaux. When he went cruis
ing on his yacht Sequoia, he instructed
his stewards to serve the Margaux wrap
ped in a towel to obscure the label, while
they served his guests on board a cheap
vintage Bordeaux.
in the cellar, carefully placing each bottle
on its side with the labels face up so I
could go down at night and stare at my
treasure.
The trouble with having a case of rare
wine is that you don’t know anybody
worthy of serving it to.
Every time someone came to the
house for dinner, I would greet him at
the door and mentally say to myself:
“This bum wouldn’t know a Chateau
Mouton Rothschild from a bottle of Man-
ischewitz.”
Some might think that Mr. Nixon was
being petty, but anyone who knows the
pleasures of a great wine like Chateau
Margaux can appreciate why the former
President wouldn’t want to waste it on the
people he invited aboard the Sequoia.
I have always felt the same way about
my good wine. Several years ago, I was
given a gift by Baron Philippe Rothschild
— a case of Chateau Mouton Rothschild
1955. The nectar at that time sold for
about $40 a bottle. (The rule of any news
paper syndicate is that I cannot accept
any gift that I can’t eat or drink in 24
hours. Since I figured I could drink a
case in 24 hours if I really tried, I never
bothered to return it.)
But I didn’t drink it. I stashed it away
As the years went by, my wine became
more valuable, but harder to open. My
biggest fear was that if I served a bottle of
it and my guests made no comment, I
would go berserk and scream at them:
“Do you fools realize you’re drinking an
$80 bottle of wine?” My second fear was
that there would be some guests who
would recognize it for what it was, and
become so enthused I’d have to open a
second bottle which would deplete my
treasure.
eel:
Once I was working on a television
show with an important Hollywood pro
ducer and writer in my home. My wife
fixed us a sandwich lunch. When we
walked into the dining room, I disco
vered to my horror that she had opened
one of the bottles of Mouton Rothschild.
Without thinking, I screamed at her:
“How could you open a bottle of Mouton
Rothschild for these bums?”
The TV show went down the drain.
I did open a bottle for my dam
18th birthday, and another »|
French friend from Paris visited
that left me with nine bottles to
before I went to sleep.
Then the Vietnam war riots
and all discipline broke down
house. Our children had turned
lious and nobody was talking toanjl
Strangers in blue jeans with lx
clenched fists kept walking in a
our house. I forgot all about
cellar.
But one day in 1973,1 wentupi
attic to find a suitcase. I took a*
and as I was shining it aroundjsan
of glass in the corner of the attj:.|
over to it. There were nine empty
with Chateau Mouton Rothschild
lying on the floor. Apparently,
one of my absences, the flower cl
had had a wine party in the attic.
I let out a scream and my wife
upstairs. She found me on my km
bing and pounding on the floor,
have I done? What has happened:
It’s been years, but I still haven’tji
over it. Every once in a while I’ll
down and say: “If I had only puttht
Nun in the wine rack, I would ben
man today.”
So when I read about Mr. Nixon
to protect his Chateau Margauxfrool
heathen guests, my heart wentM|T
him. He could have shared itwithtir - ! TYl ] <
but as he told John Dean, "It would! p ^ L
been wrong.”
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Letter: End financial aid to Isra
Editor:
I would like to encourage your read
ers to write Senators Lloyd Bentsen and
John Tower requesting that they submit
legislation that will cut off all military and
financial aid to Israel unless they agree to
withdraw from Beirut and Lebanon.
If Israel attempts the final solution for
the PLO and the Palestinians in West
Beirut, then U.S. influence in the area
will be finished. Sources from Saudi Ara
bia have informed us that Egypt and
other moderate countries in the region
including Saudi Arabia will be forced to
break diplomatic relations with the Un
ited States or be overthrown if Israel fol
lows through with its version of Hitler’s
Holocaust in Lebanon.
etc., instead or the United States will take
military action with the 6th and 7th Fleets
and Marines to force Israeli withdrawal
from Lebanon.
Brian ^
College Stall
Berry's World
These Saudi Arabian sources stated
also that if this happens, one way or
another there will be a cutoff of oil from
the region to the U.S. and possibly to the
entire West. This could seriously erode
our relations with western Europe as
well, who would blame unconditional
U.S. military aid to Israel as the cause of
the oil blockade.
At a time when the greenie environ
mentalists have successfully crippled the
nuclear energy option, the United States
is more vulnerable than ever to an oil
embargo.
The United States must end aid now,
which is a budget cut that is in order.
Simultaneously, Israel must be warned
that if it takes action that attacks and im
perils U.S. strategic interests in the Mid
dle East and threatens our oil supplies,
the United States will immediately break
diplomatic relations and either give aid to
its moderate allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
© 1982 by NEA, Inc.
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